Transforming the Lives of At-risk Youth

This morning I had the opportunity to spend a couple hours with a relatively new friend of mine who leads an organization that impacts at-risk youth in several countries in Latin America.  His organization is currently in the process of implementing LAMP in their context, and I am planning on visiting Honduras this Spring to help them out.  I'm curious to research (as a chapter of my dissertation) how LAMP works in a global context, and he is interested in taking the work that his organization is doing to the next level.  Hopefully our relationship will continue to have real positive outcomes for the youth that we work with.  Today I was able to steward what I have been learning at BGU on behalf of the kids who are being reached by his organization in Latin America.  Here are a few themes from our conversation:

• Christians should be intentional about the transformation of the lives of the at-risk youth we work with.  Too many Christians settle for compassion, which is the low-hanging fruit of ministry to kids who are struggling in urban environments.  We give out coats and toys, and we may help with other physical needs.  We may focus on evangelism with words, but we fail to help the kids connect their relationship with Christ to their physical needs.  Christian leaders who work with at-risk youth in America and around the world should be working toward the holistic transformation of the kids through both compassion and justice.
• Youth development models and missions models matter.  Anybody who chooses to work with at-risk youth should be experts in the theory behind what they do... viewing themselves as practitioners of work with youth.  Leadership matters when it comes to working with at-risk youth, and organizations and institutions involved in that noble task should be resourcing and equipping leaders to implement some of the great strategies that are out there with the young people they work with in their context.
• We live in a complex, globalizing, urbanizing, pluralistic world.  Christians should not be naive about those things. We must be empowered and equipped to make a difference in that type of world.  Too often Christians try to search for quick fixes or easy answers to the complex problems in this world.  To put it simply, that perspective that is rampant throughout modern Christendom is completely unacceptable and ineffective.  Christians should be seeking to understand culture and the complexities in our modern world so that we can be leaders on the forefront of impacting the world in the 21st century.  We should be out in front, not dragging our feet or lagging behind or creating little Christian bubbles for ourselves.  We must engage culture and be equipped to do so in order to transform the world as followers of Christ.

My friend and I discussed other topics as well, but my point in sharing all of this is that I am trying to demonstrate how important it is for Christians in the world today to engage culture and get involved in transforming the lives of at-risk youth.  The Church is the most profound change agent in the world that God has ever established.  Right now is our time to shine.  We should not be living in fear about the uncertainty in the world, or withdrawing from society, or be intimidated about the complexities of problems facing modern at-risk youth.  LAMP in Pittsburgh, and my friend's organization in Latin America, have been called to the front lines.  And we should prepare ourselves as Christians that way.  God has called all of us to make a difference in the transformation of this world for God's purposes.